Blitzer, Amanpour spar on CNN

3/3/14 6:43 PM EST

CNN hosts Christiane Amanpour and Wolf Blitzer sparred on Monday after Blitzer quoted a Russian official who said pro-European Ukrainians are anti-Semites and fascists.

“You have to be really careful by putting that across as a fact,” Amanpour said after Blitzer quoted Vitaly Churkin, the Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Security Council who said earlier today that “fascists and anti-Semites" were to blame for the unrest in Ukraine.

“That’s what Vitaly Churkin said,” Blitzer countered.

“He may have done, but that’s the Russian position, but are you telling me, are you saying that the entire pro-European, Ukrainians are anti-Semites?” Amanpour asked.

Blitzer said he “of course” was not characterizing the pro-European Union Ukrainians as such, only that he was quoting a Russian official.

“We just as a network have to be really careful not to lump the entire pro-European Ukrainians into what is some may well be, which are nationalistic and extremist,”Amanpour said.

“Christiane, we're not. We’re not doing it all,” Blitzer said.

“I’m an outsider, I’d hate to see a civil war break out on CNN,” said Stephen Cohen, a Nation columnist who has been one of the more ardent Vladimir Putin-defenders.

“It's not a civil war, it's smart conversation all right, to be continued and I certainly wasn't lumping all the pro-Ukrainians elements, I was only pointing out what Vitaly Cherkin said,” Blitzer said, as the segment ended with forced laughter.